Rhapsodies

For the thirteenth day of Inktober  we have one of the great ogres of Northwestern Native American Folklore, Dzunukwa aka Basket Woman aka the Whistling Woman. 

Dzunukwa is an interesting figure in Kwakwaka’wakw mythology on one side she’s a bogey figure meant to keep children out of the forest for fear of being captured and put her basket to be eaten. but at the same time she is occasionally seen as a wise woman and an ancestor figure for the Namgis clan.

She’s a common feature in native art I see every time I browse in galleries every time I go downtown. So it was fun to try and create a “real” version of the wooden masks.